Malaysian Oriental Wok

A pink plate of fragrant chicken rice, topped with dark-soy-sauce-drizzled steamed hainanese chicken, a sprinkle of sesame seed and spring onion, served with a small dish of chilly sauce and a side bowl of chicken broth, was all I needed on days when I'm homesick.

This is by far the best chicken rice I've tasted here in Melbourne, at this small shop, Malaysian Oriental Wok, hidden away at The Causeway (a back lane between Bourke and Lt. Collins).

Although it's a little pricey at $9.80, but I really really liked it. The chicken is juicy and succulent, and the rice was very fragrant. Even the chilly sauce was good!

I used to frequent Hawker's Cafe (at Lt. Bourke and Russell Street) for their chicken rice, but they closed down quite a while back, and I was needless to say, devastated.

Thank goodness I've found myself an even better substitute. Next time if you're craving tasty authentic chicken rice, you know where to go to!

When I was reading through food review blogs, I was warned that the aunty who runs the shop was a little grouchy. Some even dubbed her as The Grumpy Aunty. But they were certainly wrong.

Grumpy Aunty was so chatty and she was telling me all about her family and daughter, Dr. Victoria who now resides in Singapore.

She even told us about Ipoh Hor Fun and Ipoh Ngar Choi Kai (bean sprouts chicken rice), and going to the extent of explaining what they really are when I mentioned that I've never been to Ipoh.

She was going on and on for more than 15 minutes, and was only willing to bid goodbye when she had other customers walking in. So yeah, I would dub her as The Friendly Chatty Aunty. :D